Tag: happy with looks

I LOVE my sunglasses – actually it’s more of a necessity for me than a fashion accessory...the day I venture out in the sun without mine I am doomed – a bright, smiling sun and hunger are triggers for a migraine that will never forgive me for days. Kat has glasses and she even got the photo chromatic ones so that she could have her sunglasses in the sun and the same ones turn normal in the shade. However, after seeing me being so much in love with mine, she has now finally got a pair of prescription sunglasses for herself. She enjoys wearing them but it’s a big hassle for me as I always end up carrying them – it’s an expensive pair (prescription sunglasses always are) and I am so worried that somewhere in the process of exchanging the normal pair with the sunglasses, she will either lose or break this one – and I feel much safer guarding them! Totally my fault – no one else to blame...

Kat copies me and gets her pair and who does Kit copy? You guessed it – Kat! Kit has not one, but 2 pair of sunglasses to choose from and some days she will not leave the house if both Kat and I are wearing sunglasses and she isn’t...so here we are, three girls ready to face the sun with sun block, sunglasses and sun hats and guess what? the only man in our house will not wear sunglasses. He has the most jaw dropping Maui Jim sunglasses that have seen daylight only a dozen times in the last few years and are safely stashed away in the glove compartment in the car.

Anyhow, last weekend when we were checking out from Hershey’s Park (wow! what a sweet treat weekend that was…) I came back to the car and it was clear that Kat had been messing around with my handbag to search for her sunglasses.

Me (jokingly): “Looks like someone’s been messing around in my bag. I can see some mismanagement here in my bag.”

Kat ignores me. Kit on the other hand thinks that I have found something in my bag so she immediately takes her thumb out of her mouth in anticipation and says: “Can I have it please?”

Me (perplexed): “What?”

Kit: “What you found in the bag. That mis thing.”

That really gave us all a good laugh...Kit on the other hand, adjusted her sunglasses and hat and carried on sucking her thumb in the car seat totally unimpressed by our laughter (like something silly grown ups do from time to time!)

HAIR!!! Maybe when I was Kat’s age, I WAS so obsessed with it? 100% has to be my genes, this one – every single morning when she comes into my room to wish me (due to the summer break schedule), the first thing I notice is the beautifully brushed hair and lip gloss (and this is before brushing teeth). At bedtime, she wants to sleep in a correct position so that her hair is not spoilt in the morning – of course, once she sleeps, it’s a different story!

The pool in our building closes at 11am and Kat goes for a swim everyday (much against her wishes sometimes) during the summer break. The other day she was getting terribly late for the pool and after much agitation, grumbling and everything included I managed to send her down at 10:30am so she could have at least half hour swim – imagine my bewilderment, my shock when she came back 5 minutes later saying she had forgotten her swim hat and could not jump into the pool without one as it would spoil her hair! HAIR?!

To aggravate an already delicate (at times, hilarious) situation, Kat is now obsessed with LONG hair. She stretches and pulls her hair down from under her ears every night (Kit might do a better job I say) hoping they will grow faster...I still prefer the short style – so easy to maintain, no fuss at all...but that’s me and I cannot impose my wishes on Kat and whenever I have tried, it has never worked :-(

Kat’s hair is not so straight like Pocahontas so we do have the occasional waves and layers to worry about which can be nuisance for anyone desperate for quick long hair (Can you imagine, she even suggested hair extensions once but judging from my glare and high pitched reaction, she immediately said it was a joke! Phew!), so I am not looking forward to school mornings when everything and I mean EVERYTHING needs to run smoothly, especially now that Kit needs to be ready for school too. (Oh! What an adventure this is going to turn out...)

Kit, who was always a great candidate for short hair – who would slide easily in her Dora car and get a haircut while clapping her hands watching Dora or Max and Ruby is now adamant about long hair too! There was a time (not so long ago) when all 3 of us had identical French Bobs - then Kat left us to pursue her long hair dream and now Kit is abandoning me. On the brighter side, looking at the growing number of greys in mine and Papa’s hair, I could certainly use these ‘hair savings’ towards covering those, don’t you think :-)

Kat has beautiful brown eyes with even more beautiful, long eyelashes. I have to admit I have pretty eyelashes too (deteriorating bottom up, maybe? Not that top parts are enviable anymore!) BUT I think gene wise these long eyelashes come from Papa as do the long, sleek hands and feet (are only the chubby cheeks in the infant stages mine?).

Now that Kat is taking good care of her looks and face, she looks rather well turned out and smart especially with her glasses that she has to wear constantly because of her near sightedness. However, she hates wearing them and is so looking forward to the day when she can switch to wearing contact lenses. Apparently it’s best to wait till she’s 12-13 years of age before we make that switch so she’s REALLY excited (and she’s only 10!). I thought she was only excited about the makeover she was going to have – I was not aware of anything else on our visit back home from the optician until:

Kat: “Can I have green coloured lenses?”

Me: “What?” I say this loudly thinking I must have heard wrong and she must be referring to green dresses instead.

Kat: “Can I have green coloured lenses and can you please speak softly?” She looks around to check if people are staring at us. Kat thinks I’ve become very loud recently. I THINK I’M NOT!

Me: “What are you talking about? Is this a fancy dress show? You will turn out a different person if you change your eye colour. You know that?”

Kat: “Just for weekends. It would be so much fun. Okay, if not green, can I have grey please?”

Me: “Absolutely not!”

Kat is very thoughtful all the way home. I love those big brown eyes and would never change them for any other colour. Her silence tells me that she is working on a different plan (or colour) to convince me…Oh dear! What next now?

Kat is that age right now where she is totally in love with herself. She might not be specifically happy with her hair etc but she is generally confident with her looks for now (thank God!) so most days (actually the days which are not school days) it is fun to see her pass by mirrors and windows and adjust her hair and smile at herself. Sometimes, she’ll look at herself and even wave and slide off just like they do in movies! Other days (being the suspicious mum that I am trying to overhear whatever I can from outside the bathroom door), she says to herself “Aren’t you beautiful?”(Mystery solved - This explains the extra time it takes to accomplish a simple task like – Go Brush Your Teeth)

Kit is not far behind – copying Kat comes naturally to her. Every time I get her ready for the day, she strains her neck to reach the mirror in the bathroom trying to see her hair and asks me – “Do I look pretty in this hair?”

Aside: Kat has hidden all the ‘adult’ hair bands in her cupboard as Kit mercilessly snaps them in two sometimes when she’s angry. Kit is unaware of this hiding place to this day…